The nature of the European Union (EU) is a contested topic, as the spectrum of possible conceptualizations of this sui generis multi-level political system ranges from an international organization to a quasi-federal state. Recently, an emerging body of literature began to conceptualize the EU as a demoicracy—an idea introduced and elaborated by Kalypso Nicolaïdis in 2004. After more than a decade of research on demoicracy, a systematic assessment of this literature is both timely and necessary. What do we already know about demoicracy in general and demoicratic character of the EU in particular? What are the most pressing problems and what is being neglected in the studies that adopt a demoicratic perspective? And what are the most promising areas for future work? These questions have not yet been fully addressed.
This paper examines the growing body of demoicratic literature and points out main findings and discrepancies, identifies potential gaps, and suggests avenues for future research. The paper concludes that while the concept of demoicracy has been significantly developed, more work is needed in order to elaborate a full-fledged theory of European demoicracy. In addition, since there are only a few studies that analyze how are the normative principles of demoicracy implemented, much more empirical work is required in this field, too.
